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Think before you tweet

It may seem obvious to think before you tweet as with only 140 characters to play with your message must be clear, succinct and to the point, whilst still enticing interest and being entertaining.

Yet there are other reasons to be on your guard when promoting a medical practice through social media, and although many businesses may interact with their customers and clients on a personal level, you have to check and double check before you attempt even the same level of contact when doing your healthcare marketing.

Confidentiality and Privacy are big issues where social marketing is concerned and not a day goes by without Facebook in the news with someone trying to scupper Mark Zuckerberg for his fame and fortune by declaring that his platform is a total intrusion of privacy. However it’s how the users of such promote themselves on these websites that is the crux of these privacy scandals.

Doctors hit the headlines for almost the same reasons. Some people understand that with health treatments comes money, and a lawsuit will win them thousands of pounds, so one step out of line, even with your most regular client can see you in court and declaring yourself bankrupt in no time at all.

Try to keep tweets impersonal, if you must use testimonials, keep them anonymous, however if the person is happy for you to use their name, make sure they sign a declaration so you have legal back up should the situation arise.

The Medical Protection Society have issued warnings that all medical professionals should refuse friends requests from patients and avoid followers on twitter who have been linked as a patient with their practice.

This is easily done with Facebook. A business page on Facebook will only allow people to like you and not friend you and if you keep your updates neutral and about your service and offers, they will have no reason to see privacy boundaries being crossed.

However you cannot stop someone following you on twitter and to block them may alienate a loyal client. Instead do not tweet them, keep all posts neutral and make sure you do not mention any names or anything that can be related to them personally at all!